Chicago Fire Blaze Past the New York Red Bulls

While this season is all but over for the Chicago Fire, don’t tell the young players on their squad that because it looks as though they’re starting to heat up after an impressive 3-2 win over the surging New York Red Bulls, leading many to ask the question…

Shaun Maloney who?

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The Red Bulls started off the goal scoring contest in the 10th minute, when off of a corner kick, Sacha Kljestan cleared enough space in the box where Fire defender Jeff Larentowicz felt the need to foul him in the box. From there, Kljestan slotted the ball in the bottom right corner past the outstretched arms of keeper Shaun Johnson for the opening goal of the night.

It was the fire who struck next during a quick counter attack in the 22nd minute. Recently acquired striker Gilberto was able to create something out of nothing by finding the streaking Kennedy Igboananike right outside the box who was able to clinically put the ball into the bottom left corner.

Gilberto found his way into the attack again in the 41st minute, when he whipped a cross towards the top of the box. From there, Michael Stevens was able to chest the ball towards an open Patrick Nyarko who acrobatically drove the ball into the back of the net.

The Red Bulls rebounded in the 49th minute where off bit of trickery, as Lloyd Sam initially set up for the corner kick, however after just touching the ball a few times made way for Kljestan, who ran the ball out from the corner flag with no pressure. From there, Kljestan passed the ball into the middle where Ronald Zubar was able to tie the game up. However, after the game, MLS came out with a statement calling out Jesse Marsch’s side for an illegal set piece, citing the fact that Sam touched the ball multiple times before running away from the ball, which you can’t do on an indirect kick. Therefore, the refs should have called it an indirect kick for the Fire.

However, none of that mattered in the long run, since in the 73rd minute, David Accam was able to collect a long cross from the midfield and find Igboananike streaking once again at the top of the box who was able to tap it into the bottom left corner for his second goal of the night.

This result once again shows the Red Bulls struggles playing at Toyota Park, as they have yet to steal one away from the home side since 2005.

All and all, while this game has virtually no impact for the Fire’s standings for this season, it certainly will be compelling to see if their front office can gather enough of a support cast around a solid youth-filled team to lead this squad back into contention in the Eastern Conference.

The Fire return to action Saturday as they travel to Orlando to take on Orlando City FC, while the Red Bulls head back home in a clash for dominance in the Eastern Conference, as they take on D.C. United on Sunday.